The Collapse of American Civilization

I have gotten used to the liberal media’s intense navel gazing and back patting, but this latest editorial from Time magazine really takes “self-serving” to a whole new level. In its most recent issue, Time magazine ran an article titled “The Childfree Life: When having it all means not having children,” and yes, it ends up being as self-interested and materialistic as it sounds. For Time, it seems that having it “all” means getting to use all of the money you make – on yourself. There is also some talk of “fulfilling careers,” though it isn’t exactly obvious why a person cannot have both a fulfilling career and children (as so many millions of us do).

Like many of you, I have never concerned myself with the family life (or lack thereof) of other people who I am not immediately connected to. However, like Pat Buchanan or Jonathan V. Last (who have both written excellent books about America’s collapsing birthrates), I have observed the decline of our natural population with a mixture of sadness, concern, and wonder. The collapse of the natural birthrate means the slow death of Western Culture and the turning of a page in the history of our planet; it also means that it will become increasingly difficult for America to remain the world’s lone superpower as our natural growth declines.

The most disconcerting thought, however, is what our diminishing birthrate means for our societal moral and social beliefs. Our culture has turned its back on our traditional Judeo-Christian ethos and embraced the new age mysticism which teaches that immediate gratification of ourselves is paramount. We’ve abandoned the idea that children are a blessing (as witnessed by the holocaust of abortion), and embraced the notion that children are a burden…or even a curse. Western Civilization (not just America) is committing suicidal genocide – purposefully destroying itself in an act of defiance aimed at the Christian God. We are witnessing the collapse of American civilization and sadly, our few children will be the ones most hurt by our contemporary’s actions as our civilization disappears around them.

More than anything else, Time’s article is just sad. They blithely speak of “having it all” without knowing what it means. How can people who view children as a curse have their opinion be given any credence? Our culture is lost, and this article is just more evidence of that fact.

The author of the article, Lauren Sandler, even finds time to envision some kind of conspiracy that makes childless women second-class citizens.

“Any national discussion about the struggle to reconcile womanhood with modernity tends to begin and end with one subject: parenting. If you’re a woman who’s not in the mommy trenches, more often than not you’re excluded from the discussion. But being sidelined doesn’t exempt childless women from being scolded. The Weekly Standard’s Jonathan V. Last has made the case in his controversial book What to Expect When No One’s Expecting that the selfishness of the childless American endangers our economic future by reducing the number of consumers and taxpayers. With fertility treatment widely available, not to mention adoption, even clinically infertile women have more options than ever to become mothers, which increases the possibility that any woman who doesn’t will be judged for her choice. Even so, women who choose not to become mothers are finding new paths of acceptance.”

What Ms. Sandler doesn’t understand is that a woman with children will dismiss the woman who is not “in the mommy trenches” because she has no idea about the complexities of life as a mother. Being the husband to a woman, and the father of children – I daily bear witness to the work and effort of life my amazing wife engages in. I also see, from time to time, childless women attempting to offer advice or care for her. It’s sweet and well meant, but they can’t truly identify with her life day in and day out.

So deep runs her worry about the choices made to remain without children that she sees scolding where none exists. Demographic shift is a real concern that we face as Americans, and the most important factor in this shift is that we as Americans are not having children. And yes, Ms. Sandler, most Americans are having less kids for selfish reasons — that’s not scolding, it’s simple fact. And I know the reasons are generally selfish because I read Ms. Sandler’s article, wherein most of her example women have remained childless (and plan to do so) for reasons of self-gratification.

As an optimistic conservative, I hold out hope that we can right the ship of demographic shift. I hope that our nation sees a revival and returns to its roots as a Christian nation – I believe that’s the only way to fix what ails us. Our culture desperately needs to return to a Christo-centered moral ethic, something like a Third Great Awakening. However, I also consider myself an amateur cultural geographer, and I can tell you that we have never before seen a culture recover from this dramatic of a collapse. We have already lost Western Europe, and sadly, it seems as though we are next.

The views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by EagleRising.com

About the author

Onan Coca

Onan is the Editor-in-Chief at Liberty Alliance media group. He's also the managing editor at Eaglerising.com, Constitution.com and the managing partner at iPatriot.com. You can read more of his writing at Eagle Rising.
Onan is a graduate of Liberty University (2003) and earned his M.Ed. at Western Governors University in 2012. Onan lives in Atlanta with his wife and their three wonderful children.